Luang Pu lets two more offices work

Protest co-leader Luang Pu Buddha Issara on Wednesday agreed to allow officials attached to the Election Commission to resume work at their offices inside the government complex on Chaeng Watthana Road from Thursday and their colleagues at the Department of Consular Affairs on Friday.

Published: 05/02/2014 at 07:38 PM

The monk’s decision to reopen the EC headquarters in Building B of the government complex followed a one-hour meeting with election commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn at the protest site in the afternoon. Security guards from the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) will meet with EC officials on Thursday at 2pm to inspect their security measures to ensure the safety of both officials and protesters before staff resume work on Friday. Later, Thongchai Chasawath, director-general of the Department of Consular Affairs, negotiated with Luang Pu, asking him to allow officials to return to their offices so that they could solve problems about a lack of passports because of the department's shutdown. Luang Pu accepted Mr Thongchai’s request on condition that the department would be open for public services on Monday and police and military officers would be deployed to guard the area around the clock. Luang Pu led protesters to block Chaeng Watthana Road and bar officials from working at the complex on Jan 13. The monk allowed the first group of officials from the Justice Ministry to return to work on Monday.